Credit to Novak Djokovic: he played some wonderful points today. But it was a
lame performance from Andy Murray, which left you wondering if he actually
was lame coming into the match.

There was one point, deep in the third set, when his legs just seemed to give up on him and he stood stick still and dumped a feeble little bunt into the net, like a man playing French cricket.

Murray was seen clutching at his leg during the semi-final against David Ferrer, which encouraged the local newspapers to run a series of stories discussing his thigh injury.

But Murray himself denied he had any problems more serious than the usual wear and tear at this stage of a grand slam. And if he really came into this Australian Open final with a damaged muscle, why would he have opted to play the whole of the first set from two paces behind the baseline? It just doesn’t make any sense.

A more convincing argument was provided by Brad Gilbert, the TV commentator who coached Murray for a year or so in 2006, and suggested that nerves had shut down his normally smooth movement.

The statistics are damning: in three appearances in grand slam finals, Murray has yet to win a set, and he never even looked like winning one today. Particularly during a shocking run of seven consecutive lost games from 4-4 in the first set to 0-5 in the second.

For those 40-odd minutes, Murray’s performance levels dropped to a level that was unworthy of a major tournament finalist. He was respectable, if uninspired, at the beginning and the end of the match. But for that period in the middle, he was struggling to justify the price of admission (about A$340, since you’re asking).

He dumped ball after ball into the net, off both wings, and let his shoulders droop as his body language reverted to its worst “sulky teenager” setting. Even when he did make a rare play, even when he harried Djokovic into clunking a forehand into the net-post, there was no sign of a fist-pump or a primeval roar. Instead he just trudged back into his service position, staring at the floor as if he wanted to get the whole thing over with as quickly as possible.

Last year, Murray could claim that Roger Federer blew him off the court with some scintillating tennis. This time, Djokovic played well – but in a more defensive fashion, so that his most spectacular shots were the retrievals he made out of a Kim Clijsters-esque splits position at either end of the court.

Even on those occasions when Murray did put some decent points together, Djokovic simply lifted his game to a higher level in response. He would probably have edged it, even if Murray had done himself justice. But we will never know for sure. The Serb was never really tested, never pressurised, by a man who seemed at odds with his own game for most of the evening. It was a limp way for the tournament to end.